Slaughtering and those who sell, breed and buy for slaughter are doing it for some kind of profit. With slaughter being made illegal, there would be (presumably) no market for slaughter. Therefore, the back yard breeders and those that breed and trade horses strictly for slaughter would have no reason in doing so - no market equals no sales. Then why breed live stock for slaughter? There would be no point, therefore, in my eyes, reducing the number of horses meant to be killed each year. The question was where would the 80,000 go? I don't believe there will be 80,000 meant to be killed after banning slaughter.

The horses aren't being bred specifically FOR slaughter. They are just all the unwanted kid's ponies, crippled Thoroughbreds, sterile broodmares, crazy studs, and old horses that nobody want. Nobody breeds horses (in the US) with the explicit goal of shipping them to the meatpackers..

The fact is, 80,000 horses ARE killed each year in the US for human consumption. That's a lot of horses. And even if slaughter was banned right now, and even assuming that people stopped breeding, it would be 30 years (the life span of a horse) before all of those unwanted horses were phased out.

But people won't stop breeding. It's easy to obtain access to a stud and breed him to your mare to get a cute little foal. If there's no slaughter, fine, just turn him out in the pasture with little grass and no water to starve. It happens already.

With the state of things right now, slaughter is a neccessary evil. None of us our PRO-slaughter. I like to think that we all think it's a cruel practice. Hell, I'm a vegetarian because horses really aren't any different from any other animals, really. (Before you jump on me, yes, I will admit to being a hypocrite--I do love my leather goods. But we're all hypocrites.)

And I repeat--there's always Mexico. Or neglect/abuse. Or shooting ol' Trigger between the eyes.

Slaughtering and those who sell, breed and buy for slaughter are doing it for some kind of profit. With slaughter being made illegal, there would be (presumably) no market for slaughter. Therefore, the back yard breeders and those that breed and trade horses strictly for slaughter would have no reason in doing so - no market equals no sales. Then why breed live stock for slaughter? There would be no point, therefore, in my eyes, reducing the number of horses meant to be killed each year. The question was where would the 80,000 go? I don't believe there will be 80,000
Meant to be killed after banning slaughter.

I agree, there are people out there that breed for slaughter, its not all unwanted horses. But when there is No market for slaughter horses can always be bred for slaughter to go to mexico (but with the cost of shipping I am sure there wont be much less breeding for slaughter.)

Quote:

it would be 30 years (the life span of a horse) before all of those unwanted horses were phased out.

Not that long, Sadly, those horses would not be taken care of like our horses, they would be ill treated most likely and not last 30 years...So whats better Slaughter or abuse? My answer is that Slaughter is abuse. So there is no differance.

Quote:

And I repeat--there's always Mexico. Or neglect/abuse. Or shooting ol' Trigger between the eyes.

Mexico would be ruled out because of costs.....
Neglet/abuse happens right know with the slaughter
And the shot between the eyes is WAY more humane then whats happening at the moment.

That was the first website I pulled up, and my laptop battery isn't going to last much longer so I'm done webcrawling. I'm sure you can google other, better, un-biased sites.

That site was very slanted. Organizations like that one (and PETA, for example) only tell you what they want you to hear.

The fact is, people don't make much of a profit selling horses to slaughter. I have friends going to auctions telling me that nice, beautiful registered colts with impeccable pedigrees are going for between $5 and $200. That sure doesn't cover the stud fee, feed, medical expenses, etc. Slaughterhouses pay, on average, $400 per head. That's half the price of cattle. There's not a lot of money in the American meat trade.

And the costs of going to Mexico or Canada? In a lot of cases, it's probably less than shipping way up north to the current US locations. It's cheaper, too, because there's no need for monitoring by an American agency. Anything goes.

Slaughter is cruel, but at least it's just a few day ride up to the plant, a few hours of utter terror, and then a (usually) quick and (relatively) painless death. Versus years of slow neglect or abuse.

And people aren't responsible. History teaches us that. People won't stop breeding--no, the price of horses will drop even more than it already has and they will be even easier to obtain and breed. Look at all the dogs and cats running around. Soon ponies would be the same. The Humane Society would have to start rounding them up off the streets and euthanizing them.

Maybe that's an exaggerated estimation, but I can certainly see it happening. It's really not that far-fetched.

Look. I don't like it. But I don't see any way around the facts.

Truth be told, however, you'll never change to my side and I'll never consider your view. I could be blatantly wrong and I'll admit that, but I really don't think I am. I don't see the world through rose-colored glasses.

I'm not trying to start a fight or argument, and I'm certainly not casting stones at anyone. Just please consider what I'm saying and, if it comes to that, consider the facts before voting to end equine slaughter in the USA.

Hello, there, I'm new here but I have been following this thread with interest.

Before I was totally against horse slaughter but I must admit that Bubba has some very good points. I think he's (or she, maybe???) has done some reading on this topic--am I correct? You've changed my mind! And that's hard to do!!

But I'll add my own 2 cents worth. It's already illegal I think to transport horses to Mexico or Canada for the purpuse of slaughter. But it's not illegal to do it for any other reason. So people will lie and do it anyway. It's already happening. Or you can use methods other than trailering to get them across, and that's allowed.

How about that, T-bone? Welcome to the forum. I'm a female, by the way, since you seemed a little confused.

You're right about the transportation to Mexico. People ARE already getting around the rules. That's what people are good at.

Another thing to consider: A good percentage of the horses going to slaughter are ex-racing Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds. Think people are going to stop breeding them? Think again. They've got delusions of big bucks on their minds and they don't give a **** about their "machinery." The horseracing industry is a nasty one indeed.

I do agree with you on the horse racing, I don't know, but my mind has been changing quite a bit about this topic. Its hard for me to say, yes or no. I would much rather say. I agree with this point, oh but you got a point there. I have always been that way, can't make up my mind on one thing..... :roll:

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